True. Religion is all about finding the off switch to the logic centre of our brains (they call the switch faith).Being in a group of people under the same spell certainly makes the process easier.
@Bryan This is how we learn about the world and ourselves. I am a changed person from what I was when I joined this forum, from interaction, being exposed to new information, and learning from others. If you are willing to be challenged and accept change positions, you are imrpoving not only in knowledge but becoming a better person.
The bible talks about being humble, but they do not practice it. I am humble because I recognize and understand I am not perfect, I still have a lot to learn, and my farts do stink.
Being humble does not diminish one, it adds strength and the courage to accept change.
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How very elitist, and accurate of you.
The reading age needed to read the editorial of our one local paper is 12 years.
I found that out when we did a project at work about the general level of literacy of our clients. Our region served poor working class families mostly. We discovered that approx. 25% of them were functionally illiterate.IE could not read and understand the local newspaper.
We were somewhat embarrassed but not surprised to discover that an undergraduate reading level was needed to have a fighting chance of understanding the various forms and information leaflets we put out.
Going by my dealings with that department for my pension, nothing has changed. The less said about the Tax Office the better.
I used to get kids straight out of school in my section. Most of them could write clear, simple, concise letters. Within 6 months they were ruined, having learned how to write officialese.
I have experience in officialese and I understand most legalese.
Lots of bullshit words with no meaning. (Officialese)
Lots of words with precise definitions YOU better look up in the document (legalese)
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I understand only limited legalise. I once did a course in Admin Law. I was taught how to interpret the small sections thee Social Security Act (1947) I helped administer:
EG; My sections of the act contained a deeming provision , which was fascinating. Deeming provision are very powerful , because they may deem anything they choose.
Also learned under the Act ‘immediately’ meant within 3 days.
Because I was ‘a delegate of the secretary’, I learned about decisions and how to justify them under The Act. I never once had one of my decisions changed on appeal. This was not because I was Mr Perfect. It was because my attitude was always a bit like this: “This person is in crisis. I will pay him/her if I can” .Didn’t look for reasons to deny payment. I simply responded to the evidence in front of me as positively as I could.
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And, since Tony Abbott and Morrison the instructions are to deny or delay payment. Wait for an appeal, deny again, demand multiple lots of documents that can be unavailable. Deny.
Most Centrelink staff are not.They work for the hotel telemarketing group Accor, Serco or another labour hire mob. They are instructed to lie to the direct enquiry “are you a centrelink employee.?” they will (reluctantly) tell the truth when you ask “who does your paycheck come from?”. Although they try their best they do not know the system as well as the long term employees of the agency.
@algebe On here, yes, but everywhere else in real life…no. Frankly, I am sick and tired of them trying to shove their beliefs down people’s throats, including us folks, so they can try to convert us and gain followers or believers. I am very much against evangelizing, as is my 75 year old mom.
For both mom and I…we just live and let live. They can believe or not believe what they want, and we can believe or not believe what we want. In the end, it is a win-win situation for all.
Same here, @David_Killens. There are a lot of things that we don’t know, and many things we may never know or find the answer to, and that is ok, as it keeps me humble and open-minded. It is a lot better than being prideful and arrogant, if you ask me.
I have a readability indicator in Microsoft Word. I didn’t know what the hell it was so I looked it up. “Flesch Reading Ease” If you have it enabled and click on the spell check, it will pop up after the check is done and tell you if you are writing in such a way as to be understood by the general population or not. So look at this piece of unorganized shit I just posted. I going to go and have it evaluated this very moment and we will see how I did.
Okay, this bullshit has a readability of 75.3 WTF does that mean???
A value between 60 and 80 should be easy for a 12 to 15 year old to understand.
No wonder I am misunderstood by Pablito.
See spot. ‘Bang’ See spot run. Run spot run. Wow… space. Can you spell space… s… p…a…c…e That’s right! Just like the place between,… ummmm… me and you.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha …
I worked in a region of high poverty. Around 25% of our clients were functionally illiterate. Which meant they would be unable to read the editorial in the local paper, which had a reading age of 12.
We then checked departmental forms and information leaflets. They had reading level of undergraduate.
My impression is that a level of literacy needed to read most posts here is high school age 15-17 up to at least first year undergraduate… Eg I think first year undergraduates might have problems understanding some some of Call’s posts. But of course this just my opinion.
So … in order to be better communicators with some of our theistic friends we should cease using polysyllabic words and advanced concepts?
I know the answer, but still … it galls me that I engage with such ignorance and stupidity.
At least. I would also avoid abstract concepts.
… Conversely, particular personal articulations concievably subsist intracrancranilly, within the conscious perceptions of the conversantly unenlightened as a mysterious, conspiritorial scheme perpetuated by irreverant, godless, freethinking, skeptical, nonbelievers. So why not keep the guessing?
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@Cognostic I pondered a reply and said to myself, “fuck it, I’m just a mechanic”. This is a game I am outclasessed in.
But I did comprehend the message.
You have more patience than I.
Excess of verbiage and archaic, multisyllabic terms and expression is not the foundation of lucid communication.
Sorry that’s the best I can do without much thought or effort. 
Imagine the poor sods incapable of comprehending multisyllabic language. Stuck in a monosyllabic existence, they are unable to understand anything beyond the “rule of five.” No more than five words in a sentence. No more than five letters in a word.
You have described people who speak (or more correctly, spoke) that manufactured language ‘Pidgin English’ ,still common in New Guinea and parts of Africa at least. That language was deliberately designed to make expression of abstract ideas virtually impossible.
Fortunately, as living languages tend to do, it has evolved.
